Friday, June 28, 2013

The Chronicles of a Crusader: Swati Amarnath

Swati Amarnath
is an anthropomorphic form of courage. Having earned a stellar reputation in
media circles, what is little known is Swati’s story of resilience behind it.
Born as Lata, on the insistence of her father, she changed her name to Swati. “Under
my new name, my first article ever was published in Kalaimagal in December
1996. The next month my father passed away, confident that his daughter’s new
vista of life had opened up.” Swati has since written for a plethora of Tamil
and English magazines and newspapers, handling a wide range of subjects -
everything from celebrity interviews and personality profiles to banking,
finance, insurance, taxation, real estate, medicine, health, fitness,
education, religion and even art! She has as many as ten thousand articles and
counting, to her credit, including a crime novel in Tamil.

She once held
office as the Probationary Officer at the State Bank of India, Swati had
accolades to her credit, when tragedy struck. “The maid taking care of my first
daughter consumed an insecticide after a failed affair. We saved her life and
sent her back home. Later, she confessed to having abused my child!” Swati
moved to Bangalore, and then Lagos, Nigeria. At that juncture, she witnessed
the first noticeable symptoms of her brain tumor. “It crept up innocuously in
the form of a constant ringing noise in my ear. By then my physical sufferings
were unbearable as I was struck with trigeminal neuralgia, suffering severe
spasmodic electric shocks in the face due to the stimulation of the affected
nerve.” The tumor mangled her body, and paralysed one side of her face.
“Recovery from the surgery was traumatic. I needed continuous physiotherapy
sessions for my paralysed face. The eye on the paralysed side was stitched up
at the edge to prevent infections.”

Amidst trying to
find out the reason for the debilitating symptoms that cropped up, Swati
completed her B.Ed. Suddenly, Swati’s first child was diagnosed with juvenile
diabetes. “She had to stay in the hospital for a month as she was nearly in a
coma. The entire body was thrown out of gear due to the diabetic condition she
had!” That was another major turning point in her life. “I was determined to
provide both my children with more than the best. I decided that my health or
the lack of it will never come in the way of their goals and desires.” Swati
contended with a lots of health issues. She even fell a few times due to
partial vision and lack of hearing on one side, developing lower-back pain.

A strong
fighter, Swati simply looked ahead, staring adversity in the eye without being
daunted. "I don't know if I could have even snatched a second to think of
a situation as an up or as a down." No matter what she faced, she
continued working hard to complete her deadlines. “I remember, once, I had a
deadline to send several stories comprising interviews with chairmen of eminent
hospitals in Chennai to The Hindu. I was doing the entire health supplement. My
first daughter was admitted in hospital for an emergency appendicitis surgery.
With my heart fluttering in panic, I sat down and wrote out all the interviews
in the hospital room, watching her come out of anaesthesia. I went back in the
evening and typed out my stories, mailing it on time!” Another time, Swati
returned home after an endoscopy, and was asked to immediately write up a
booklet on a renowned personality. Despite the difficult cards life has dealt
her, Swati is not one to be defeated. “I would not like to pigeon-hole events
in my life as challenges, difficulties or anything for that matter. Every
person’s life is replete with several events and people, which the individual
has to deal with in the best possible manner.”

She is a
brave-heart, really. “Life is like mathematics. When you complete one problem
you go on to the next, more difficult one and try to solve it. If one has
decided to make the most of one’s life, there is no need to even think of
personal qualities like courage!” Swati runs her own media venture and has also
taken to event management. She finds her support system in her husband and
daughters. “My second daughter once bought me a small make-up kit. I cried,
then. She has never seen her mother smile. My half-functional face happens to
be the most beautiful face in the world, which I happened to read on her note
to her sister in the Facebook.”

Swati also had a
brief stint in the visual media, when she was involved in producing women’s
programmes for two leading channels in South India. “I had conceived and
coordinated a programme which was a talk show. It was similar to Satyameva
Jayate which is being telecast now, though the format was different. But, when
the management changed hands, the executive producer of the programme developed
differences with the new management and left, taking the master tapes with her.
Barring a few episodes that were telecast as individual programmes on Women’s
day, the serial never saw the light of day.” Swati was left feeling disgruntled
with the prevalence of an unprofessional attitude behind producing programmes
and the rampant dubious practices. The experience firmed her resolve to stick
with the Print Media.

Presently, Swati
runs her own media venture, called Eve’s Times, and has also taken to event
management. “Along with a friend, we coordinated the SAARC women’s exhibition
in 2010 and another women’s convention last year!” She finds her support system
in her husband, who she counts on as being her lifeline. “Today, whatever I am
is due to my husband. He has been the only person who has stood by me through
all the vicissitudes of my life. It is rare to see such patience, kindness,
maturity, equanimity and strength of character in a man today. If a woman can
get this kind of respect and love from a man, she can move mountains!”

Quote Unquote:

“Amidst the lack
of understanding by friends and relatives, by school teachers and ridicule by
classmates, my daughters continued their studies, and achieving all the time.
For a woman even a little blemish on her face or body brings down her
confidence- level and self esteem. But for me, my father had taught me the
value of our culture and how every human being should decide on a goal and work
towards a productive life. I have learnt a lot from my husband who nurtured me
back to health and has done everything a mother would do for her child. From
him, I have learnt the meaning of true love and dedication. I want to continue
my mission of taking forward my awareness drive to the people, to millions of
women, youth and children about the latest advancements in the world of medicine,
education, about entrepreneurship, social and civic responsibilities. I want to
initiate a trend in the media world where medium sized media ventures can
encompass all the different forms of media such as the print, electronic, audio
and visual media and be successful
enterprises. I want the media to be a part of the nation building activities,
by being educative and a vehicle of transformation of mass attitude.”